Huskies grind out 69-57 win over Augustana in NSIC quarterfinals

Sunday, March 1

Sioux Falls, S.D.

8 p.m.

St. Cloud State

Augustana University (SD)

Nikki Kilboten and Erin Navratil celebrate an early basket in the Huskies win over Augustana.

Photo by: Kelsey Whaley

Huskies grind out 69-57 win over Augustana in NSIC quarterfinals

3/1/2020 10:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The St. Cloud State University women's basketball team is used to playing in tight games. The Huskies are also used to winning them.

It should come as no surprise to fans, then, that Sunday evening's quarterfinal game of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC)/Sanford Health Tournament was close and tight and resulted in a St. Cloud State "W". Though things seemed hairy at times, the Huskies led their quarterfinal matchup with Augustana University from beginning to end, as St. Cloud State earned a 69-57 victory to advance to the semifinals for the second consecutive season.

It was an extremely eventful first half of play, as the Huskies were rolling from the start and jumped out to an 18-11 lead after the first quarter. The Vikings, though, were never that out of the game, as their fast-paced, run down offense wore St. Cloud State's stingy defense down in the second quarter, as Augustana managed to cut the Huskies lead to five points with under five minutes remaining in the quarter. Madelin Dammann (Waconia, Minn. / Waconia) put a stop to that, as her back-to-back threes not only gave St. Cloud State a 33-25 lead headed into the locker room at half, but also allowed her to eclipse the 1000 point threshold, becoming the 31^st player to reach the milestone.

Late in the third quarter, Augustana's defense gave St. Cloud State trouble, as the Vikings incorporated a full court. The Huskies offense went drastically cold during that time period, as Augustana managed to cut the lead to 43-40 with 1:23 remaining in the penultimate quarter. Then, with under a minute to go, the Vikings cut the lead to 43-42, but Brehna Evans (De Pere, Wis. / West De Pere) was there to extend it back to a three-point advantage at 45-42. Augustana, unfortunately, managed to score one final basket at the buzzer, ending the quarter on an 11-2 run to cut the Huskies lead to 45-44.

Free throws kept the Vikings in the game in the fourth quarter just as they did in the third, as the visitors managed to stay within five points of St. Cloud State in the early minutes. The Huskies continued to put pressure on Augustana defensively and chipped away offensively, scoring buckets whenever they could while drawing more and more fouls. Then, with six minutes remaining in the quarter, Kelsey Peschel (Sauk Centre, Minn. / Sauk Centre) came up with a clutch three, extending St. Cloud State's lead to 56-48 at the final media timeout in regulation.

Of course, the Vikings weren't about to go away quietly, as they continued their physical play on both sides of the ball. After the Huskies scored on three consecutive possession, Augustana went back to its full court press and went on a 6-0 run to once again whittle the Huskies lead back down to three points at 56-53.

With just over three minutes remaining in regulation, head coach Lori Fish was forced with a tough decision, as Nikki Kilboten (Eau Claire, Wis. / Eau Claire North) was charged with her fourth foul of the game. At the time, Fish chose to keep Kilboten in the game, and in the long run, it payed off, as the junior came up with a huge rebound, lay-up-and-one to boost St. Cloud State's lead to 59-53 in the waning minutes of the quarter. Eventually, though, Kilboten fouled out, leaving the Huskies down their top rebounder with 2:44 remaining on the clock.

In the end, fouls and free throws played a large role for both St. Cloud State and Augustana, as the Vikings were forced to fouls the Huskies well before the final minute of regulation. St. Cloud State wasn't as flawless from the free throw line as normal, but Dammann and Tori Wortz (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) both hit at least one in the closing 1:30 to extend the Huskies lead to 66-57 with 59 seconds remaining in regulation.

With under a minute, Augustana was forced to foul, and St. Cloud State continued to make its free throws. It was Wortz, Dammann and Evans that hit the clutch free throws down the stretch, securing a nice 69-57 win for the Huskies.

Those three student-athletes all ended the game in double-figures, as Evans tied her career and season high with 23 points in the victory. Dammann, in addition to scoring the 1000^th point of her career, ended the game with 17 total, while Wortz closed the game with 13 points of her own.

Kilboten was the team's leading rebounder, as she finished the game with 11 rebounds while Dammann, Evans and Wortz concluded the game with eight, seven and six rebounds respectively.

With the win, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 21-7, and the team advanced to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament semifinal for the second consecutive season. The Huskies will be in action again on Monday, as the face the top seed in the South Division, the University of Sioux Falls, at 8 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.